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Autism disinformation on Telegram soars in Latin America and Caribbean
A new study looked at over 58 million pieces of content shared from 2015 to 2025 in 1,659 conspiratorial groups about autism across 19 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In the last five years, the volume of disinformation about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has grown by more than 15 thousand percent in the Latin American and Caribbean group chats on the instant messaging app Telegram. What began as disinformation during the pandemic gained traction as a continuous flow of dangerous theories,” Ergon Cugler, autistic, coordinator of the study, and FGV researcher told Agência Brasil. In these Telegram group chats, the researchers found more than 150 incorrect or untrue ASD causes: radiation from 5G networks, vaccines, reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field, consumption of Doritos, and even chemtrails.
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